Bane

Vampire Apocalypse, Volume 1

De: H. M. Ward

Narrado por: B. J. Harrison

Volume 1 in the Vampire Apocalypse trilogy by NY Times Bestselling Author H.M. Ward

The world as we know it is gone. The ice caps have melted and shifted south, devastating the northern territories and eradicating major cities such as New York and London, which are now under water and frozen. Humans died off during an epidemic prior to the ice disaster, and many more died during the floods at the start of this new ice age.

These events have forced vampires out of hiding. In order to ensure that their food source wouldn't completely die off, the vampires have sequestered the remaining humans into farms and taken control of all that remains of civilization. Over time, the humans breeding on these farms became anemic. Their blood no longer sustains the master race. But not all of the humans were captured and sent to the farms. Some of the humans evaded the hunters, hiding in safe houses across the frozen tundra. As decades passed, the free humans disappeared, died, or were captured, until all that remains is one.

Kahli is the last wild human. BANE is her story.

Genre: Young Adult

Type: Novel; Series Book 1 of 3

©2013 H.M. Ward (P)2013 H.M. Ward

Vampires, action, a kickass girl and a hot guy!

What made the experience of listening to Bane the most enjoyable?

B.J. Harrison, the narrator, has a dramatic "paranormal storytelling" kinda voice. Some of the characters' voices were off (not like I would have portrayed them).

What did you like best about this story?

I love paranormal stories involving vampires and I love H.M Ward's style of writting. Put the two together and, BAM! Insta-hit for me! It goes on my "to-listen-again" list. I love Will and Kahli. Oh Will, you definitely go on my top book boyfriend list!

Which character – as performed by B. J. Harrison – was your favorite?

B.J. Harrison does freaky old male vampire REALLY well! The King has a very eerie voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There is a forbidden romantic storyline developping between the 2 main characters but, as is often the case with H.M Ward, the romance takes it's sweet, delicious time in coming to pass. All moments between Khalli and Will are my favorite.

Any additional comments?

At the time of posting this review, there are 2 books out in this series (Bane & Catalyst) and the 3rd one (Divergent) is in the making.

This is a paranormal story involving vampires & humans and a race that's in bewtween (Bane) and their struggle to survive in a "post apocalyptic", ice-age world. Filled with action, intrigue, plots, survival struggles/games and lessons in humane values. By the end of this book, you are just getting into the main action and the listener is left wanting to jump right into book 2 to find out what happens next.

The way this story is told, it gives the listener a multitude of points of view, randomly alternating between the thoughts and feeling of various characters within the same chapter. I found this a bit confusing at first, trying to figure out who's emotions I was listening to but I got used to it and it wasn't an issue for long. The characters are smart, strong & witty and the listener can easily get attached to them.

This book is for teens and adults alike (I'm 39 and love it). The physical attraction between the 2 main characters is palpable but never sexually explicit or descriptive. There is a certain level of descriptive violence and blood but nothing too gory.

A good idea that deserved more thought

I think the author of this book started off with a great premise: a frozen post-apocalyptic world in which vampires have tried to preserve their food source (humans) by creating farms where they'd be protected, but in doing so, they weaken the gene pool and humans are now in the way of the dinosaurs. In comes a girl who escaped these camps and who grew in the wild for 10 years. She's fresh blood, literally, that could save her weakened species. Now, tell me you wouldn't bet one of your credits for a story like this? Unfortunately, the book fails in two basic aspects: dialogue and character development. It's hard to imagine a girl who supposedly has lived most of her life in the wild, isolated from most of other humans for so long, and is yet able to not only speak her mind with such expressions such as "bff" and also can read people's intentions so clearly, without any kind of culture shock or real inability to cope. The author to create the appropriate conditions to make us believe this contract, like when she sees a human boy for the first time or not having a mother to explain about the birds and the bees to her... yet, these situations are completely wasted by the author never truly exploited as they should have been. The ending is very abrupt. It's not a cliffhanger as much as a sink hole. I'm not sure if this is the author's first attempt at novel, because there's a great deal of potential, yet she's still unskilled as a writer.